TORONTO —
With the United States’ land border still closed to non-essential travel, experts say some Canadian snowbirds may be staying home for a second consecutive winter.
Oct. 21 is the deadline for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to declare whether it plans to ease these travel restrictions at the Canada-U.S. land border, or extend the prohibition for another 30 days.
No one knows for sure why the U.S. has kept the land border closed while Canadians can still fly into the country by air, but Toronto travel insurance broker Martin Firestone says he is telling his clients to have faith that it will reopen come October.
“There’s going to be thousands and thousands of snowbirds that will for a second year in a row not find their way down south if it doesn’t because it’s going to curtail the season once again,” Firestone told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.
As more Americans and Canadians get vaccinated, the Canadian Snowbirds Association (CSA) says it is hopeful the vast majority of snowbirds will be able to travel south this winter.
Evan Rachkovsky, a spokesperson for the CSA, told CTVNews.ca in an email that Canadian snowbirds are itching to return to the U.S., but the current ban is hampering their plans once again.
“As over 70 per cent of Canadian snowbirds travel to the United States in their Canadian vehicles, the ongoing closure of the U.S. land border continues to cause frustration amongst these travellers,” Rachkovsky said Wednesday.
He added that snowbirds who live in their RVs year round are particularly impacted since most Canadian campgrounds and RV sites are closed during the winter months.
“The CSA is calling on the Biden Administration to lift the current restrictions at the land border as the Canadian government did for fully vaccinated American travellers earlier this year,” Rachkovsky said.
The Canadian government eased travel restriction for U.S. citizens and permanent residents fully immunized against COVID-19 on Aug. 9.
The Biden administration announced in September that most adult foreign nationals will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel to the United States by early November. However, there were no details provided on how this new policy would specifically impact travel at the land border.
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas previously said during a National Press Club event in Washington that the U.S. had hoped to ease land travel restrictions sooner, but the Delta variant delayed those plans.
If the land border remains closed come Oct. 21, Firestone said Canadian snowbirds do have some options, “all of which are expensive.”
Firestone says older travellers typically want a vehicle at their disposal or an RV while in the U.S., and prefer to avoid the hassle of air travel, particularly since Canada’s decision to allow fully-vaccinated visitors has dramatically slowed the customs clearance process.
“Why two people from the same family packing up their car and heading south across the border is not considered safer than going into an airport terminal with a thousand other people… is beyond any understanding,” Firestone said.
However, Firestone said the cost of shipping a vehicle or an RV separately while paying for plane tickets is too expensive for most snowbirds. In addition, a shortage of available rental cars across North America has put a further premium on being able to take one’s own car.
He says those who can’t afford these options will likely remain in Canada for the winter season.
“Yes there are choices, but I don’t think any [snowbirds] will take advantage of them if they need to have to do that,” Firestone said.
A group of U.S. Senate Democrats, including Michigan senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand of New York and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, wrote a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden in September asking him to finally lift the travel ban.
“We believe that fully vaccinated Canadians should be allowed to safely travel into the United States via land ports of entry,” reads the letter, which was also signed by New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
“We urge you to lift these restrictions before October, provide a plan for reopening land ports of entry and appoint an interagency lead on U.S.-Canadian border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the senators said in the letter.
Firestone says the U.S. may be looking to open its northern and southern borders at the same time, however, the ongoing immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border may be making the White House wary about easing travel restrictions altogether.
“I suspect that [America] wants an open border between their north and southern countries with respect to opening it simultaneously,” he said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
